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Winter Has Made it to the Tahoe Backcountry: By BCRider (Photos and editorial comments in parentheses by Pete)
The
long, hot months of summer are usually depressing for the
backcountry slider. By the time fall comes the anticipation of
winter being right around the corner becomes unbearable. It’s
Winter was not only here it was pissed off and wanted to make a statement.
I had
planned on checking accumulations on Sunday and posted a
messag Got an email and then a phone call Sunday night from fellow ttipper, Pete from Folsom. (Keep your phone numbers listed, you may want to hear from us) He said he was getting a small group together for tomorrow in the Carson BC area. Having not spent much time in that zone and desperately needing to make turns made it an easy decision to make… "Count me in", I said. (Erin and I were both expected at work Monday, but being in sales Erin asked me if in February I would remember another day at work or BC trip on Veteran’s Day. I went off in my head that Danny was out of school too and I was in.)
The
plan was to meet in the parking lot of Mc’Ds at 4:30am, ski
Carson, and be home around 1pm. I’ve been working on a proto I was 5 minutes late (tolerable) and the group was ready and waiting. (One car came into the lot a few minutes before Chris. We pulled our rig from our lighted spot at Chevron to closer to where it parked in the dark lot. Our vehicle full of guys scared the hell out of the poor McDonald’s employee alone in her car at 4:30. We were contemplating apologizing, but thought walking over might make it worse when Chris pulled in) The group consisted of Pete, a telemarker, his 15-year-old son Danny, a snowboarder, his friend Erin a rondenee skier with an appetite for destruction, me on a new splitboard, and my trusty bc dog Sierra a lab/retriever mix. We were all fired up on the drive up and got to know each other more. (Chris and I met at the Sacramento Snow addicts meeting organized on TTips this summer. I knew Chris would be up for just about any good BC trip we cooked up).
The descent was about 1,200ft of vert and we did 2 ½ laps before it was time to go. The first run was the best as the snow was still dry. On the upper 600’ it was fun windpack. The clear skies and warm temps quickly turned the snow to mashed potatoes but it was still a memorable first day of the year.
Pete
showed his strong tele skills (Lucky for Pete, Erin’s camera
messed up the photo evidence of an excellent face plant so
there will be no film at 11), Erin hiked like an animal and
made great turns through the slop, Dan having only spent a
handful of days in the bc truly showed some talent and a good
grasp of the fundamentals of snowboarding. I had a great time
on the new split and my bad It was a short but glorious day and the season was officially kicked off. The quick trip cured the depression of summer and provided a much needed attitude adjustment. (GOOD NEWS: Our circle of BC friends continued to expand by hooking up with Chris. BAD NEWS: The short gentle slope left us craving more. The depression was gone, but the desire for turns burned even brighter after getting a few!)
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